Dharamshala — In tackling negative emotions that disturb our minds we need to overcome our misconception of reality," His Holiness the Dalai Lama said, adding that happiness depends on the state of our minds.
The Monkey year Tse-chu ceremony was carried out at Tso-pema on the 14th of July 2016 celebrating Guru Padmasambhava's birth. This event was graced by His Holiness the Dalai Lama's presence. His Holiness also happened to address the assembly of people who gathered at the teaching ground beside the lake conveying his wise words.
His Holiness enlightened the public regarding Buddhas way to liberate people, "It's through our body, speech and mind that we create good and bad karma. Once you gain control of your mind, you'll be able to discipline your acts of body and speech. Generally, although we don't want suffering, we willing engage in acts of harm that give rise to it."
"We think that if we have health and wealth they're enough to be happy, but actually happiness depends on the state of our minds. In tackling negative emotions that disturb our minds we need to overcome our misconception of reality."
In continuation he stated that, "The Buddhas don't wash beings' unwholesome deeds away with water, nor do they remove their sufferings with their hands. Their kindness is to reveal reality and the path to liberation. Ignorance can be merely not knowing something or it can involve having a wrong view of reality."
"It is this wrong view that Buddhas help us correct. Our pervasive misconception of reality is that things have intrinsic existence. We tend to think of a self that is the ruler or controller of our body and mind. No such intrinsically existent self exists apart from the self that is merely designated on the basis of our body and mind. What the Buddhas reveal is the Dharma by which we will be liberated."
To support his explanation His Holiness gave an example, "When things are going well we easily remember the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, but we forget them while things go so wrong. There's a story I heard and repeated to Karmapa Rinpoche of a nomad from Kham bringing his yaks to Lhasa. When they had to cross a river he called on the blessings of the Karmapa saying 'Karmapa khyen-no', but after losing one of the yaks in the water he changed his tune muttering 'Karmapa to hell with you instead."
His Holiness explained that it's the unwholesome actions and negative emotions that arise as a result of our misconception of reality that give rise to suffering. However, if there were no way out of suffering the Buddha would not have talked about it. The Buddha's teaching is based on reason which is cleared once the wisdom helps realize selflessness which becomes on way to end ignorance.
His Holiness also pulled out another story from Kham of someone visiting the abbot of a monastery and, finding him absent, being told that he had gone to the village to frighten the old people. His Holiness' highlighted point being that there is no place for fear in teaching the Dharma.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama also added that, "Much more effective is knowledge and understanding, which is why I've been encouraging friends to transform even small temples into libraries and places of learning. The more than 300 volumes of the Kangyur and Tengyur should be read to form the basis of study rather than stored on shelves and treated as objects of veneration."
"In the '60 Stanzas of Reasoning' Nagarjuna says 'May I complete the two collections that give rise to the two bodies of the Buddha'. Those two collections don't just involve accumulating merit, but wisdom too. It's by understanding the Two Truths that we enter into the path to enlightenment. When we enter into Tantra, this can also involve introducing the disciple to the mind of clear light."
"I received this empowerment from Trulshik Rinpoche who, in addition to adopting a genuinely non-sectarian approach, was a truly great practitioner. This Rigzin Dungdrub cycle was revealed by Rigzin Godemchen, a forerunner of the Chang-ter Northern Treasure tradition that was later maintained by Dorje Drak Monastery and in which the Fifth Dalai Lama participated", said His Holiness.
The session ended with His Holiness the Dalai Lama leading the assembly in a ceremonial generation of the awakening mind of Bodhichitta.
